By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Jan 13: Political pundit Dato Peter Minos has called on Malaysians to move beyond race and religion, saying Sarawak has long shown that peaceful coexistence is possible.
In a statement yesterday, he said Malaysia could be ‘very beautiful’ if racial and religious extremism were no longer present.
“In 1963, I was a young schoolboy and I was very happy when Malaysia was formed because Sarawak had teamed up with the more advanced Malaya and Singapore, and because Malayan leaders at that time said they would help Sarawak to progress and advance economically. I believe many children in Sarawak felt the same way then,” he said.
However, his optimism was shattered by the May 13 racial riots in Kuala Lumpur in 1969, when he was a student at Universiti Malaya.
As a Sarawakian, he said he never imagined that race and religion could turn people against each other.
Minos said that since 1969, he has hoped that Malaysians would stop using race and religion for political purposes, pointing that Sarawak standing as an example of unity in diversity.
“Look around us in Sarawak. We live together and accept each other in comfort and ease. We eat anywhere with one another. We are never bothered by each other’s race or religion. It never crosses our minds,” he said.
He added that Sarawak is seen as a shared home, where people are born, live and contribute to the State’s well-being.
“Why cannot our Malayan friends do the same? Why always think, say and do things in terms of race and religion? Why not emulate Sarawakians?,” Minos said. — DayakDaily
